posted at 10:03 pm on February 27, 2012 by Allahpundit

Part 42 in our ongoing blog series, “How racist is this latest cultural allusion to Jeremy Lin’s race?” I tend to give offenders the benefit of the doubt but fortune cookies were expressly forbidden in the Ten Commandments of Jeremy Lin Sensitivity. Besides, B&J is a famously liberal outfit, and there’s nothing more fun than watching Our Moral Superiors have to squirm a little for using stereotypes.

This one’s an easy lay-up. Verdict: Racist. And delicious.

The company tweeted, “On behalf of Ben & Jerry’s Boston Scoop Shops, we offer a heartfelt apology if anyone was offended by our handmade Linsanity flavor that we offered at our Harvard Square location. We are proud and honored to have Jeremy Lin hail from one of our fine, local universities, and we are huge sports fans. We were swept up in the nationwide Linsanity momentum. Our intention was to create a flavor to honor Jeremy Lin’s accomplishments and his meteoric rise in the NBA, and recognize that he was a local Harvard graduate. We try to demonstrate our commitment as a Boston-based, valued-led business and if we failed in this instance, we offer our sincere apologies.”

The Boston Globe reported that the fortune-cookie pieces were replaced by waffle cones after some customers protested that the fortune-cookie pieces perpetuated an Asian stereotype, while others complained the cookies were too soggy. The lychee element, a fruit from Southeast Asia, also caused an uproar as arguments raged that Lin was not from Asia but Northern California.

I’m offended — not by the racial elements but by the fact that ice cream artisans like Ben & Jerry would foist something as inedible as fortune cookies on their customers. When they’re dry, it’s like chewing brittle, orange-infused styrofoam; I can’t even imagine the sludgy nightmare of eating them soggy. If they’re going to make the experience racist and unpalatable, why not force customers to eat it with chopsticks? Good lord.

The use of lychee is also borderline, and by “borderline” I of course mean “scrumptious.” Exit question: Why have hackles been raised about the fortune cookies but not that? Is it because something like 98 percent of Americans have no idea what a lychee is or where it comes from? Or is it because, unlike the cookie, it’s darned tasty and can’t be spared?

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Comments

the obvious addition to the ice cream would have been beans. But I don’t think they would’ve had as many takers….

calbear on February 28, 2012 at 1:34 AM

I was given a bean popcicle when at a friend’s house once when I was in high school. I politely finished it but vowed, “never again”. In college another friend offered me some of her bean milkshake. I refused in as courteous a fashion as I could muster.

1. You don’t know who Jeremy Lin is? Can I rent out the rock you’ve been living under?

2. Lin wasn’t offended. Other people (liberals) were offended FOR him.

Good Solid B-Plus on February 28, 2012 at 12:16 AM

1. I live under a rock too; it’s in Bizzaro World since I’m not a spectator sport watching couch potato, and that makes me anti-social …I guess.

2. Except you can’t be offended “for” somebody any more than you can apologize “if” you offended them. To apologize you must first agree to being wrong. To be offended it must be your opinion that someone else is in the wrong. Nobody can tell another what their opinions are or what they agree to.

It is sloppy non-thinking and deceptive language which drives leftist thinking.

1. I live under a rock too; it’s in Bizzaro World since I’m not a spectator sport watching couch potato, and that makes me anti-social …I guess.

2. Except you can’t be offended “for” somebody any more than you can apologize “if” you offended them. To apologize you must first agree to being wrong. To be offended it must be your opinion that someone else is in the wrong. Nobody can tell another what their opinions are or what they agree to.

It is sloppy non-thinking and deceptive language which drives leftist thinking.

Fenris on February 28, 2012 at 2:42 AM

1. Oh, cut the crap. People who haven’t watched basketball since George Mikan retired know who Jeremy Lin is. My grandma knows who Jeremy Lin is, which officially makes him the 3rd basketball player she can name, after LeBron James and Michael Jordan. Cultural ignorance of a giant story isn’t a virtue.

2. Did I say I agreed with B&J’s decision? No. I simply correctly pointed out that it wasn’t Lin who asked for an apology. Lin doesn’t even care. The Legion of the Professionally Offended: Asian Division sprung into action and browbeat B&J into submission.

1. Oh, cut the crap. People who haven’t watched basketball since George Mikan retired know who Jeremy Lin is. My grandma knows who Jeremy Lin is, which officially makes him the 3rd basketball player she can name, after LeBron James and Michael Jordan. Cultural ignorance of a giant story isn’t a virtue.

2. Did I say I agreed with B&J’s decision? No. I simply correctly pointed out that it wasn’t Lin who asked for an apology. Lin doesn’t even care. The Legion of the Professionally Offended: Asian Division sprung into action and browbeat B&J into submission.

Good Solid B-Plus on February 28, 2012 at 4:40 AM

1. Basketball is what you think of as culture? I read this story elsewhere, until then I’d never heard of Lin. I’ve never heard of Mikan either. I’m sure I could name famous people you’ve never heard of – does that make you unvirtuous or is it the fact that you’re calling me a liar?

2. I agree Lin doesn’t care about the Professionally Offended. But Ben & Jerry’s hardly needed to be browbeaten. I could maybe have worded that a little better, as I wasn’t really disagreeing with you. I was pointing out the absudity of the left’s penchant for being offended ‘for’ others.

B&J is owned by a big transnational corporation. All it takes anymore is one semi-irate call from the National 2 Guys In A Closet With A Blog (used to be a fax) Association to a PR flack and they fold to ethnic pressure. Mitt Romney Vanilla White Chocolate Marshmallow Chunk wouldn’t get a rise.

lol, I’m with you. As the metabolism changes, you have to make choices. Ice cream or slender.

hawkdriver

I’m in the over 40 club and I’ve learned there’s a third option. Frozen yogurt is much better for you than ice cream and the generic Kroger brand tastes better than ice cream. Yes, it’s true. So not only do you get a healthier guilty pleasure but you also support a company that gives more to Republicans than Democrats each year.

Well….I did not know who Lin was…but then I actually watch something else other than sports. Me thinks I am in Ancient Rome where the masses were held enthralled by the Gladiator games and did not notice the Roman Empire was falling from within.

The next edition of the Oxford Dictionary should have a blank next to the word “racist.” It is a truly a word that has been rendered meaningless by the intellectually dishonest and the false accusers of the world.

Oh, cut the crap. People who haven’t watched basketball since George Mikan retired know who Jeremy Lin is…..
Good Solid B-Plus on February 28, 2012 at 4:40 AM

Who? I never heard of George either.

And never heard of Lin before these idiotic ‘racist’ things took over the important news of this country. You assume that everyone IS a sports fan, or is related to or hangs out someone who finds watching sports to be high priority.

Yeah, there are millions of them, but some of us have better things to do with our time.

And never heard of Lin before these idiotic ‘racist’ things took over the important news of this country. You assume that everyone IS a sports fan, or is related to or hangs out someone who finds watching sports to be high priority.

Yeah, there are millions of them, but some of us have better things to do with our time.

LegendHasIt on February 28, 2012 at 8:10 PM

So? You’ve heard of him now. You had heard of him before this fortune cookie story. So yes, I will say this: I don’t care who is or isn’t a sports fan, anyone who hasn’t heard of Jeremy Lin by now is culturally ignorant. If you’re someone who is proud of ignorance, then good on you. I assume everyone who has a working computer (you DO have one of those, right? I mean, you’re probably using one at the moment) has at least heard in passing of the biggest story on the internet for the past three weeks.

Mikan is the first great basketball Center. In other words, even old people who don’t care about basketball anymore have heard of Lin. He’s a gigantic story.

1. Basketball is what you think of as culture? I read this story elsewhere, until then I’d never heard of Lin. I’ve never heard of Mikan either. I’m sure I could name famous people you’ve never heard of – does that make you unvirtuous or is it the fact that you’re calling me a liar?

Fenris on February 28, 2012 at 7:03 AM

A. Maybe, but not very many of them.

And, more importantly:

B. No one who has been in the news as often as Lin these past few weeks. That’s exactly the point. We all post on an internet website. I assume most of us use the internet for other purposes as well. When a story goes absolutely nuclear/viral like the Lin story, you can no longer say “Well, I’m not interested in X, so I don’t know about him.” It cuts across all strata. It’s been front-page news in cities that don’t even have pro sports teams.

B. No one who has been in the news as often as Lin these past few weeks. That’s exactly the point. We all post on an internet website. I assume most of us use the internet for other purposes as well. When a story goes absolutely nuclear/viral like the Lin story, you can no longer say “Well, I’m not interested in X, so I don’t know about him.” It cuts across all strata. It’s been front-page news in cities that don’t even have pro sports teams.

Good Solid B-Plus on February 28, 2012 at 10:35 PM

A. The days of one man being able to read every book ever written are long gone. You greatly overestimate your own intelligence because absolutely nobody is that smart.

B. No, I still can say that I’m not interested in either spectator sports or Lin. Although this is one more data point in progressive hypocrisy.